AMMAN (AFP) - Palestinians trained in Jordan will be deployed in the
West Bank, Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki told AFP as he
denied Israeli media reports that Jordanian forces would be sent to
the area.

"They are PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) forces that have
been denied to go inside the territories," Mulki said Thursday.

"They are not Jordanian, they are Palestinian, and they have been
trained by Jordanian special forces. They abide by the instructions
of the president of the Palestinian Authority," he said.

Israel´s Maariv newspaper reported that Jordan´s King Abdullah II had
offered deploy 1,000 Jordanian troops in the northern West Bank to
ensure order after Israel pulls out from four small settlements there
later this year.

But Mulki insisted that the force, described by the Israeli media as
the Badr Brigade, was made up of Palestinians trained in Jordan.

"They are not ours. Jordan has no jurisdiction over them. They were
our guests and we trained them," he said.

"Since the Israelis are saying they want them and there is a need in
the West Bank for their activity. and approval by Israel, we will
deploy them.

"It is not our decision to tell them to go. They want to go and it is
a decision by both the Palestinians and the Israelis," he added.

Maariv said the deployment was awaiting Israel´s endorsement but that
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas had already given the move his
approval.

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told public radio he was
not aware of such proposal but did not exclude the idea of a foreign
presence in the northern West Bank after the pullout.

"We´re not opposed, for example, to US security experts being posted
in the Gaza Strip or in Judea and Samaria," said Peres, using the
biblical name for the West Bank.

"It mostly depends on the Palestinians," he added.

Jordan once administered the West Bank which was captured by Israel
in the 1967 Six Day War war.